Like It Never Happened
by Transii
Summary: Because if, in that last moment, she decided not to tell him... Well. Things might've turned out a lot differently, for sure. /ChiakiMakoto//CanonAU//Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo/


-1**Title:** Like It Never Happened (Toki o Kakeru Shoujo/ TokiKake)

**Pairings:** ChiakiMakoto

**Word Count:** 2049

**Type:** Canon AU

**Rating:** K+ (fluff.)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Toki o Kakeru Shoujo. I wish I did, but I don't.

**Summary:** Because if, in that last moment, she decided not to tell him... Well. Things might've turned out a lot differently, for sure. /ChiakiMakoto/CanonAU/Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo/

--EDIT: Beginning of chapter is a retelling of some of the end of the movie. Because I'm not very original and I'm bad at writing intros. :D'

* * *

Chapter 1: Disregard

"Makoto?"

She started at her name, and turned to find a quizzical Yuri in the doorway.

"Are you okay?"

Returning her gaze to the small capsule in her hand, Makoto gazed at it a second more before closing her fist around the device and tucking it away in an obscure pocket on her uniform. The object was simply too precious to lose, and she couldn't risk anyone else seeing it. Yuri watched as she picked herself up and dusted off her skirt. "What happened?" Yuri asked again, this time more concerned than confused. "Did you fall? You should be more careful; you could get hurt!"

Makoto turned with a weak smile. "I'm fine," she consoled her friend, and reached down to pick up the fallen notebooks. Yuri stepped over to help, sighing at the other girl's apparent mishap. In mere moments the thin bound volumes were back in steady hands, and Makoto found herself in the other room, stacking them up on the teacher's desk in their specified containers.

It was all a horribly bad case of De-ja-vu. How many times had she lived this moment through already? At least twice, for sure, she knew… the rest seemed like a blur now, as her hands picked up the next notebook to be hefted over the last. Her head was in a muss just trying to figure it all out. Today was that 'bad-luck' 'nice day' that she had received the Time-leaping ability. It was also the day she had spent playing baseball with Kousuke and Chiaki. Afterward, when she had gone back the first time, she had 'fixed' her day so that everything went well for her. Then again, in another timeline, she had gone to Karaoke with them instead of baseball. And then again…

She paused, fingers resting atop the final notebook. So many times. So many different times… and now, she had none left. She had to tell him now.

How sad.

"I wonder what Chaki-kun does on his days off," Yuri mused out loud. She shifted her position, leaning a little further to the right on the desk behind Makoto. "He can't play baseball all day long, right?"

Makoto remained silent, but her eyes wandered this time to the partially illuminated blackboard hanging in the front of the classroom. There, amongst other scribbles from the science class long dismissed, the words that she remembered from that first day… the very first time, lay in etched white chalk.

"Yuri." Makoto spoke out of the blue.

Yuri turned at the sound, to focus her attention on the source. Makoto stood away from her, still facing the blackboard. There was a moment of silence before there was any more sound.

"You know, I… there was something I couldn't tell you before."

Cocking her head slightly, Yuri asked, "What is it?"

This time, Makoto turned to her, eyes solemn. "I…"—she hesitated a bit before the words finally left her— "…like Chiaki."

Yuri fell silent. Her eyes taking in the picture of her now serious friend, the expression upon her face was unreadable; Makoto expected the worst. Anger, sadness… shock, even? It was a possibility. She steeled herself for whatever reaction her classmate would have, knowing that she'd brought it upon herself.

But she had no such response, only a calm "I see." to say. Makoto gazed at her, almost surprised. Yuri smiled sadly at her confessed friend. "That's what I thought," she replied simply. "I passed him on the way here. Go."

There was nothing else to say. Makoto gave only a gentle nod to the other girl before exiting the room, ready to face the new future of the new day. Yuri watched passively as she left. Soon she was the only one there, and she sighed, and looked up at the words scrawled across the board before her. The sunlight filtered through the tiled windows, illuminating a part of the sentence.

"Makoto," she called softly, though the girl in question had already left.

"Time waits for no one."

* * *

"Makoto!"

Again she turned, this time to see Kousuke walking toward her across the school field. She blinked. "Kousuke?" she queried. It couldn't be him… But of course it was. He'd actually waited all that time for her to finish cleaning up; though Makoto was surprised, she wasn't all that really. Actually, it was quite like him to be a gentleman like that. The taller boy strode briskly, hands pocketed like he always kept them. Makoto frowned, turning to face him as he drew near. There was someone missing in this picture. "Where's Chiaki?"

"He got tired of waiting and went to the field," Kousuke replied casually, the grass under his shoes scuffling with every step. "He's pretty annoyed. We'd better hurry."

Her frown didn't lift. "You're leaving your girlfriend alone?" she asked, exasperated. "After all my effort…" It was true; getting Kousuke to accept Koho's affections had been more time-consuming than she had anticipated, and it had taken her no less than four time-leaps (complete with rolling crash-landings at the end of each) to reach a result that she had found satisfactory… though in the end, she remembered bitterly, it had led to both their deaths. She resolved then and there to make sure nothing like that ever happened to anyone, ever again…

"Girlfriend?" Kousuke asked, and Makoto jolted out of her thoughts. His eyebrows were, by this time, furrowed in an expression of utter confusion. "Whose?"

Makoto's hand leapt to her mouth, realizing her slip of the tongue. "Oh, right! I went all the way back…"

His confusion deepened. "What are you talking about?"

"Um… that's…"

A certain group of girls caught her attention, and she turned to see… It was Koho and her two friends, one of them holding a magazine and the other sporting a rather suspicious pair of binoculars. Makoto could only guess what they'd been up to. She watched, slightly amused, as the girls floundered in the unexpected attention; even more so when Kousuke followed her line of vision and set his gaze on them as well.

"Say," Makoto said, struck with a sudden inspiration, "Why don't you invite those girls to play with us?" Meanwhile, Koho was left out in the open awhile her two cohorts sought shelter behind the tree in front of which their previously occupied bench was. Kousuke turned to her this time, utter confusion replaced with utter incredulity. She ignored this. "Go invite them!"

"What for?" he asked, his 'why are you making me do this?' expression actually a rather comical one.

She shrugged. "Because it's more fun with more people," she reasoned lamely.

Kousuke visibly slumped in disbelief, obviously reluctant to ask the three to play. Suddenly he straightened, questioning with a slightly suspicious air, "Do you know them?" (Koho attempted to squeeze into the restricted space behind the trunk of the tree.)

"Sort of," Makoto said, nonchalant. Then she suddenly remembered something important. "Ah. Also…" Fingers outstretched, Makoto thrust her palm into the older classmate's face. Kousuke instinctively recoiled at the sudden movement, looking past the hand to the girl it belonged to with an inquisitive expression. Makoto looked back with a determined air. "If you want to use my bike, it'll be 5,000 yen," she declared. "Got it? 5,000!" Then she turned to leave.

"H-hey! What do you mean?!" he called after her, completely taken back by her sudden actions.

"Say, 'Let's play baseball together,' you hear me?" Makoto replied, looking over her shoulder as she jogged off the school grounds. Kousuke blinked several times, again defeated, as the distance between then greatened. She was only a few strides away from the street when she added, "Oh, and… Thanks for waiting for me!"

At this he watched her a bit longer, then sighed, a smile upturning his lips. Typical of her. "Makoto!" he called back. She looked over her shoulder again. Smiling, he teased, "Look in front of you when you're running!"

She slowed to a halt and seemed to consider his words for a moment… but only for that moment. She replied, "Sure!" and spun on her heel, this time breaking into full sprint toward the baseball field she knew Chiaki was waiting for her at.

The surrounding people and buildings phased away as she sped toward her destination.

Running… running… running…

Running out of time.

* * *

Or was she?

Once there, she approached slowly, passing through the open fence gate almost soundlessly. Chiaki tossed the baseball in to the air, catching it as it fell down and then throwing it back up again… She walked quietly to him, keeping her breathing low, and stopped only a few feet away from his bored form. A bit of wind picked up loose dust from the baseball diamond, lifting it and the two persons' hair… Chiaki hadn't noticed her yet, she realized, and she watched as he threw the ball up again.

Her mind was in a muss. Makoto bit her lip, her inner consciousness in turmoil. She had to tell him that he had told her everything… About the time-leaps, about the future era, and that he had to leave… Oh, if only she didn't have to tell him! Everything would just continue like it had… technically, she hadn't done anything much with the leaping ability yet, since she had rewound and erased most of it away.

Her mind latched onto that bit of reasoning. Well… she didn't have to tell him, right? And if she didn't tell him, he wouldn't have to leave… She would have more time with him to spend…

"You're late." Chiaki's voice rang through the air, and she looked up at him, still breathing hard from all the running she'd done. He cast her a slightly annoyed, but still pretty impassive glance. The ball moved between his hands. "Where's Kousuke?" he asked.

She caught her breath, in order to speak. "He's not coming." Oh, to tell him, or not to!?

He half-moaned his boredom, annoyance coming to a small peak. "What?" he exclaimed irritatedly, "What's with him?"

Makoto's throat lodged when he moved past her, as he moved to walk out his frustration in the sand-yellow dirt. Now was the time to tell him, she knew, but should she? Would she? It's not like she really _had_ to… her fingers grasped the item that had caused it all, still in that small pocket.

Yes, she thought— no one would know. Her mind settled for that solution. No one would ever know… Deftly, her fingers crushed the small sphere within her pocket. The object crumbled easily, leaving only tiny fragments in her hand and in the lining of the cloth…

"Hey, Makoto?"

She looked up sharply, and turned, to find Chiaki looking at her strangely. "Hm?"

He blinked. "You alright? You're just standing there, spacing out…"

The hand in her pocket clenched briefly. Then, with a smile, she dismissed his concern. "I'm fine," she replied, waving his question away with a passive motion. She set down her bag and reached for the baseball glove. Chiaki, taking the incentive, jogged to the far side of the dusty field. "I meant, Kousuke probably won't be here for awhile, so we can take our time."

"Ah, right." He nodded his understanding, and grinned. "Let's play."

Makoto smiled, her mind for some reason feeling as if a great weight had been lifted away. Another day of baseball… another normal day.

It finally seemed as if she wasn't running out of time anymore.

And no one would know.

* * *

Yes, it's very long and pointless at the moment. But it's got a plot already filled out, so it shouldn't be that bad... I hope. :D'

I really hope this isn't too choppy. My first chapters tend to be that way. PLEASE REVIEW.


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